Meet The Shop

Jason Boone

Jason earned a Bachelor of Architecture from Kansas State and worked as a professional architect for over ten years, including four with renowned firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. Despite the white-collar day job, Jason never abandoned a childhood reverence for wood, crafting functional and aesthetic pieces in his apartment kitchen before finding space as an artist in residence at John Metzler's Urban Tree Forge. After Metzler's untimely death, Jason stepped up to fulfill existing UTF contracts and later founded Urban Tree to preserve and evolve the work of its predecessor.

Nate Lucas

Nate studied fine art at Columbus College of Art and Design and has worked for almost 20 years under premier master craftsmen in wood shops across the United States. Nate’s contemporary art background and woodworking experience position him to develop superior aesthetic and fabrication solutions to client challenges. Nate is also a onetime UTF artist in residence and has been a partner at Urban Tree since 2013.

Jamie Powers

Jamie earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Columbus College of Art and Design, majoring in illustration, and has exhibited his artwork throughout the region and in print publications. Having grown up in southern West Virginia where the mountainous, wooded landscape fueled his imagination, Jamie brings his artful eye for fine detail and appreciation for natural resources to Urban Tree, where he is responsible for the hand-brushed finishes that make the studio’s product so distinctive.

Steve McDonald

Steve went to a vocational-technical high school where he studied construction trade. He then attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania for art where he majored in drawing and minored in furniture design. Graduating in 2000, he moved to Pittsburgh that same year and has lived primarily in the east end ever since. After spending 17 years at a neighboring woodshop, Steve found his way to Urban Tree in January of 2018. We’re happy to have his expertise and humor around the shop, but when he’s not carefully crafting a custom piece, Steve can be found at home in Swissvale with his wife and two dogs or starting up a band with fellow Urban Tree team members.